


Scintilla

by GeorgeCantWrite



Series: Pietro and Bucky shorts [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Avengers Tower, Bucky Barnes Is Scared, Friendship/Love, M/M, Nightmares, Pietro Maximoff Is Nervous, Pietro Maximoff centric, Post-HYDRA, Shy Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-09-17
Packaged: 2018-12-30 12:28:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12108732
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GeorgeCantWrite/pseuds/GeorgeCantWrite
Summary: They'd seen each other before; fleeting chances, curious gazes, soft touches. One resurrection later and they finally know each other's name.





	Scintilla

**Author's Note:**

> Just a little Pietro/Bucky thing I thought of while procrastinating finishing "'you didn't see that coming?' got old real fast".

Pietro had heard of the ghost assassin many times; the higher-ups and the suit-and-ties would often talk about this assassin when they thought Pietro or Wanda were asleep. For the record, they never when they were being exposed to the experiments. Pietro didn't exactly know what the experiments would do, but wanted Wanda to be happy; to get her revenge on what Tony Stark had done to their family.

They really never expected to see this assassin.

The first time Pietro had met the assassin, it was more by chance and less of an actual meeting; they had been taking Pietro to be exposed to the sceptre again and the sound of Russian swears and yells distracted him. The door had opened to reveal the Winter Soldier stalk out, flanked by five agents. He wouldn't admit it, but the sight of the Winter Soldier like that was both terrifying and hot. When the Soldier looked up at him and held his gaze, he had to admit it scared the shit out of him.

It distracted him from the pain of the experiments, which was a plus.

When Pietro had returned, both his and Wanda's powers made themselves known. It had been painful for them both and had almost driven Pietro insane. Being the fastest man alive meant that at times he was also one of the loneliest. He never really told Wanda that; he didn't want her to think it was her fault he suffered like that. They had been told that if people reacted positively to the experiments, their own enhancements would be different and their own enhancements were chanced.

Pietro felt like a lot of the things in his life was by chance.

The second time he had seen the Winter Soldier, he had been taken to medical. He had continually passed out when the suit-and-ties had tried to help him hone his enhancement. They hadn't been the best with services; dragging him along the corridors to medical. He had barely managed to sit on the metal table that was used in lieu of a bed when the Soldier had entered, face bloody and torso looking like it had been sliced open by a mad scientist. Pietro felt like with the world he knew he lived in now, that the idea probably wasn't as far fetched as he thought.

He tried to keep his eyes averted from the Soldier's torn body; but trying to look away from a masterpiece was hard. The Soldier had seen him looking, despite how fast he had been; this man was impossible.

"You are the one they call Quicksilver, yes?" he asked and Pietro nearly melted at his voice. He nodded, feeling something like anxiousness creeping up inside him. "They named you right." he said before he turned his gaze back to ahead of him, looking like a statue as the doctors fixed up the horrendous cuts that had littered his torso. The doctors had given Pietro his results about ten minutes later (his mind had wandered more times than he could think and he had been near to overflowing with energy). It turned out that he was burning more calories than he could replace and kept passing out due to that.

If Pietro was a little smug at how they now had to feed him enough food per day instead of the pitiful meals he had before, he hoped his face hadn't shown it. Considering how painful the next training sessions were, he guessed he failed.

He saw the Winter Soldier a lot of the time, but it looked like the Soldier never saw him. They would pass in the corridors, never speak and would never indicate they had spoken. It was weird for Pietro, but he didn't say anything about it; he knew better and he had heard the screams in the dead of night. He never asked if Wanda had gone into the Soldier's head or had heard him screaming when the suit-and-ties did whatever they did to him.

They would often be in the same rooms together, but on opposite sides; the Soldier would be training people, or being set up against them so the suit-and-ties could see if there were any faults in what he could do. It often put Pietro off and more than once he had accidentally ran into a wall. He hoped that the Soldier hadn't seen him do this, but he knew the Soldier saw everything, especially if that smirk was anything to go by whenever they would pass after these incidents.

Something had been created between them, a little sort of bond that was impossible to get rid of (the suit-and-ties had complained about it once mid-experiment on Pietro) and Pietro could feel something like pride in his chest. He had done something none of them thought possible and it had been with one of the most terrifying people on the planet.

Feeling bad about what the Soldier went through became a part of his daily life, hearing him being in pain and not being to do anything about it. It sucked and he wished he could do something, but he knew full well that the scientists would hurt Wanda to get him to comply. Wanda was just as much his weakness as Pietro was hers and it was so obvious it hurt.

And then he didn't see him for months. Well, in fact, he didn't see him until after he had been resurrected.

It was strange, how the Soldier came and went, and if Pietro would admit to how much of a sap he was, he would probably say how the Soldier took his heart with him. But Pietro wasn't a sap, no, not at all. He definitely wasn't a sap when he had seen Clint Barton.

It had conflicted him. Quite astoundingly so. He hadn't really expected to meet someone like Clint and maybe if circumstances had been different and things hadn't been as horrible as they had been, then maybe he would have been for Clint more than he had been for the Soldier. He had to admit: at least he knew Clint's real name and didn't have to refer to him by the alias he had adopted.

Maybe that had been one of the reasons why he had gone and taken those bullets for Clint.

He knew he had been weak, that if he tried, he would had simply gotten himself, Clint and the little boy killed. So he had done what he could have with the hand he had been given. And sure, it sucked and it had hurt beyond his imagination and had felt like an eternity, but Clint and the boy had been saved and ultimately, Ultron had been destroyed. He knew that if anyone out of him, his sister and the Avengers had to be killed, he knew that it had to be him. He wasn't important, he could be replaced. He wasn't needed as much as Clint was, wasn't worth as much as the little boy.

If the choice had been given to him again and he could walk away, not save Clint, he would have chosen what he had done before again. He would have always done that. That might have been stupid, admirable or both. But either way, he had been at peace.

He still wished he had known the Soldier's real name, what he was like when he wasn't an Asset of Hydra. That maybe he had admitted his affections to him - or had admitted his affection towards Clint. That might have explained his actions, lifted any possible guilt from Clint. But he was too late on that.

It was almost comical; he was the fastest man alive and yet he was always too late.

And then he was at peace, had been dead, drifting in the nothingness.

Until, of course, he wasn't.

He had gotten a rude awakening and was thrown into some darkness. It was cold and confining and ultimately terrifying. Pietro didn't know where he was or what the fuck was happening, but he knew he had to get out. The getting out part had been easy, his pent up energy and panic had sent him flying out of the box he had been in, what had shocked him was that he had to climb out of the dirt that had been piled on top of it.

The sun had been too bright, had burned at his eyes and the fresh air felt so heavenly, he could hardly believe what was happening. When his vision had returned to him, he had found he was looking in the direction of his gravestone. It was scary and he found himself wishing that the Soldier was there so he could tell him what happened.

He tried not to think of how much he was thinking of the Soldier. He barely had time to think before he had found himself running, trying to figure out what the fuck happened to him.

Thankfully, the Avengers had found him an hour later.

It was all so strange, how Wanda had clung onto him, sobbing her poor little heart out, babbling away in rapid fire Sokovian that he replied to just as fast. They held onto each other so tight it hurt, hyper aware at how the others were staring at them in shock.

The first to recover had been Clint who had punched him in the mouth and then hugged him. "Don't you fucking dare do that again," he told him firmly, despite how wobbly his voice sounded. His grip on Pietro was tight and he found he was clinging onto him just as tightly. Pietro looked over at the other Avengers quickly and his heart flew into his throat when he saw the Winter fucking Soldier standing beside Steve Rogers.

Clint pulled away from him and began to swear at him, telling him off for doing something so stupid. Pietro kept glancing at the Soldier whenever he got the chance. It was weird, felt like he was in a dream because this couldn't be possible.

The others greeted him, said how much of a surprise it was to find him alive. It was strange.

Unsurprisingly, Wanda and Clint stayed next to him, talking to him about everything, and feeding him, seeing how ashen faced he was and looked like he was about to collapse at any given moment. He couldn't believe the Soldier was there. He wondered if the Soldier knew him, remembered him, Pietro found himself hoping so. He didn't really get the chance to ask him; Wanda had hurried him down to medical, to make sure he was going to be alright. After, the two of them had spent the next week together, talking and trying to realise he was alive and that he had been brought back to life.

"It must have been me," Wanda told him on the fifth day, eyes cast downwards as the guilt rolled in her. "I ... lost control of my powers and it must have leaked into your grave and attached onto you."

Pietro laughed. "You have no limit when it comes to your powers," Pietro said with a smile.

The next time Pietro saw the Soldier, he had been sparring with Steve. It had been impressive; the Soldier himself was always impressive. Clint had appeared next to Pietro, looking at where he had been staring. "Bucky's good, isn't he?"

"Bucky?" he asked, frowning over at the other man.

"Guy Steve's sparring, Bucky Barnes. They were friends before Cap hit the ice." he said and Pietro nodded, attention turning to the Soldier.

"Bucky," he said quietly, testing the name on his tongue. It felt nice. And then he caught Bucky's eye and saw the smirk, all minute and quick, but it was there.

"You know him?" Clint said, nudging Pietro with his shoulder.

Pietro shrugged. "I saw him around when I was used for the experiments, but we never really spoke much." he told him, shrugging his shoulders. "You jealous or something?"

He saw the way the heat rose in Clint's face, how he rubbed at the back of his neck awkwardly. It tore Pietro a little.

"If I was?"

Pietro felt the conflict in him, not knowing how to react. Sure, he might like the Soldier - Bucky - but he knew he had also liked Clint. Man, this life thing was confusing. Clint was looking at him strangely and it was weird, and he wasn't _stopping_ him -

And then they were kissing.

Pietro wasn't too sure whether he liked it or not. If things were different, maybe he would have gone back to Clint for more of that. But then it wasn't different; and he wanted _Bucky_. When Clint pulled away, Pietro apologised and left him. He felt bad about it, but he couldn't do it.

He had acted too late. He had let Clint kiss him, he shouldn't have.

Fuck.

When he next saw Bucky, it was at about half two in the morning and Pietro had had a nightmare. He was hungry again, and couldn't sleep too; wouldn't sleep after what nightmare he had. So when he walked into the kitchen, dressed in nothing but his sweatpants, hair looking like it was knotted all to hell, he really didn't expect to see Bucky there.

"Should I be saying morning or night?" he asked and Pietro squinted at him, lifting his arm up from where it had been half covering his eyes.

"Funny." Pietro deadpanned, walking around the counter to go into the fridge, decidedly not looking at Bucky.

"I remember you. You kept passing out because you burnt more calories than you ate," Bucky said, words almost scaring the shit out of Pietro. He grabbed one of the snack bars labelled Clint and shut the door of the fridge and walked over to the table that Bucky was sat at.

"May I?" he asked, gesturing to the chair he was near. Bucky nodded and Pietro sat, chewing away at the snack bar he had.

"That is Clint's?" Pietro nodded and Bucky smiled slightly. "And what of between you two?"

He shrugged, eyes cast away from Bucky. Oh, man, he couldn't look at Bucky. Not after everything that had happened, not after everything that hadn't happened.

"Cos, I'd probably be pretty bummed out if there was something going on between you two," Bucky said and Pietro thought his heart was going to burst from his chest. He looked over at him, finding it just that little bit harder to breathe as Bucky held his gaze.

"You would?" Pietro said, words slow. Bucky smiled slightly, and if Pietro wanted to push his look, he'd say that Bucky looked shy.

Bucky stood up and Pietro followed his movements and then Bucky was in front of him, the proxemics between them making Pietro's nerves sky rocket. He kept his gaze steady with Bucky, trying to keep calm and put on a façade of bravery or cockiness - depending on what was happening.

"Most definitely," Bucky answered and Pietro could feel the breath on his face. "So," he continued, the corners of his mouth tugging up slightly. "is there anything happening between you and Clint?"

"If there is, it is nothing in comparison to whatever is going on here." he said and then Bucky was kissing him, mouth pressed firmly against his, snack bar left forgotten on the table as Pietro wrapped his arms around Bucky tightly. He could feel the heat from Bucky radiating and couldn't help but relish in it. The way Bucky's mouth was moving against his made him feel like he was in heaven; couldn't help the little whimpers that escaped him when Bucky's fingers moved almost skittishly across his skin.

It was pure bliss and when Bucky moved away from him, he felt a little stupid for the whine that left his mouth, how he had gone to kiss him again. He kept his eyes shut as Bucky rested his forehead against his, caught his breath as Bucky's arms around him tightened. "Even when they kept wiping my head, they couldn't get rid of you. It was _strange_."

"I got brought back to life and defied a successful mind wipe. Think that makes me the pinnacle of strange." Pietro said quietly and Bucky made a soft noise of laughter.

Bucky pulled away from him and smiled. "Pietro Maximoff, ultimate enigma."

"I would not say that. You, however, maybe." he said and Bucky smiled.

"Goodnight, Pietro Maximoff." Bucky said and walked off before Pietro could say anything else. He smiled to himself and wondered what would happen now, but knew he was excited. 

He turned around and went to grab the snack bar and let out a huff of laughter. "Jerk." he muttered and went and got himself another, rolling his eyes at the fact Bucky had stolen his food before he walked off back to his room.

And if, in the next morning, when Pietro went into the communal area where the others were and Bucky kissed him, well, he didn't look at the others. Instead, he leant into Bucky's side, talking quietly and catching up on anything and everything they wanted to know about each other. It was great, strange and fucking perfect.


End file.
